Josh Klug: High heat, humidity doesn't stop training

Mosinee Fire District uses a smoke machine to simulate a fire at a recent training session.

Even though temperatures were in the high 80s with lots of humidity, members of the Mosinee Fire District conducted search and rescue training July 8 at 1210 Dam Road in the Town of Bergen.

The house is actually the previous residence of the Eau Plaine Reservoir dam tender. The house is owned by Wisconsin Valley Improvement Co.. They contacted the Mosinee Fire District after they made the decision to demolition the vacant house.

It is not determined yet if the house will actually be burned for training. Even if we don't get to actually burn the house for training, we can still use it for practice on other fireground functions. At the training, instructors used a smoke machine and a training mannequin from the Rib Mountain Fire Department to make the search and rescue training as realistic as possible.

Prior to starting the fire drill, personnel were split up into teams of three that blended firefighters with different years of experience. Once at the training location, crews were assigned different responsibilities through use of the Incident Command System (ICS). This aspect of the training was also important for the department. Crews rotated between "attack," "back-up," "staging," "rehab" and "command." The rehab station was conducted just as it would have been at a real incident by checking vital signs of firefighters and replenishing them with drinking fluids.

The fire department will continue to use the structure for additional training until this fall when the house will be taken down. The Mosinee Fire District has fire drill twice a month, the first and third Monday typically. Since the department utilizes a combination of full-time and part-time employees, they offer the training in two sessions, during the morning and evening. Over half of the department is also trained in EMS (Emergency Medical Services) and they conduct monthly training twice a month as well. If you have a structure that is going to be demolished and would like to provide local firefighters a chance to train in it beforehand, please call the non-emergency number at Mosinee Fire District Station #1: 715-693-2059.

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Josh Klug: High heat, humidity doesn't stop training

Even though temperatures were in the high 80s with lots of humidity, members of the Mosinee Fire District conducted search and rescue training July 8 at 1210 Dam Road in the Town of Bergen.

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